"Pre-Order Your Copy Now" - March 11, 2021

[Jace54]

After the merger of Random House and Penguin Group, do the Penguin Classics allude to the answer description? Or is it just that some of the Random House titles are regarded as classics? Or is it just my imagination?

I think the “classic American company” descriptor for the solution is because Random House used to be a U.S company but is now owned by a foreign company.

[hunkra]

I also fell down the SHOES hole initially. And when I finally got HOUSE, I couldn’t stop thinking about that music mail order company, Columbia House (Records)

[xwordcoco]

This puzzle was so fun because it was the first time I felt like it was coming natural. I totally got lost in the SHOE, but I couldn't figure out why there was a "u" in the middle of the "shoe" scramble in FAMOUSHEXES. Or why the clues were made-up titles for books. The clues didn't connect, but it obviously meant the answer would be related to books. So I was like what company has a book/shoe them? I eventually wrote it all out, compartmentalized SHOE and found RANDOM, which I knew meant only one thing: RANDOM HOUSE! Loved it, but I'm a newbie

[Colin]

My roundabout path included asking myself "there are all these mixed up SHOEs in the answers... what is a classic SHOE ordering company? Zappos?" But one of them had a U in the midst of them. Then went to the "PRE" in the puzzle title, found "RANDOM" and then realized... duh.... it's RANDOM HOUSE.

Likewise! But I was still stuck in that rut after finding the U, convincing myself it was US SHOE which is a US classic company. A couple of the theme answers even had the additional S next to them. Then I put it down, picked it up later, focused on the title and got to the correct
sole-ution.

[KayW]

Believe it or not (and, believe it, due to that map...) I am in the 2nd ward!

Well, howdy "neighbor"!

Maybe if/when things get back to normal, we can meet to chase rabbits down The Rabbit Hole... a 2nd ward watering hole

[TPS]

Enjoyed the meta. Only issue is that Random House is a subsidiary of Bertelsmann, a European conglomerate, in contrast to a "classic American company".

Bertelsmann bought Random House in 1998 and more recently ate up Simon & Schuster.

And has now been rebranded as Penguin Random House. I didn’t initially see the RANDOM so while I figured the answer was Random House especially since when ai Googled the Puzzle Title + Random House one the first things that came up was a RH ad with that exact verbiage. But that RH is now called PRH gave me pause.

[Nlobb]

I also found Shoes right away and immediately saw Randum because of the word "pre" in the title. I saw that the letters for Shoe are in each themer and also in the word "house." So, I thought the answer was Random House and submitted it! But I never did see the word "house" in all the themers. I just figured it was house since that was the logical addition to Random. In any case, not a very elegant solution on my part but it did get me the right answer. Now I just need the mug!!

[Scraps]

I was stuck at the same place as Wendy, seeing HORS D'OEUVRE and trying to transform the other theme entries the same way. I didn't ask for a nudge, so I was never able to shake that.

I was stuck there, too. And with the Harsh/Lars dead end.

But I did ask for help.

[PQ63]

Wow. I too completely missed the word RANDOM spelled out although I did submit the correct answer. Very clever indeed.

Was thinking about exploring the Jane Fondue rabbit hole but resisted the temptation.

[Pembroke]

I enjoyed a little time in the Jane Fonda rabbit hole.
FamousHexes anagrams to “He’s Famous Ex”. Oh, Ted Turner…TCM, Turner Classic Movies!
ANDDD - there were three other networks in the crossword: CNBC, SHO and HBO.
But that’s where it ended and I got on track.

[Olaf]

Gaaaah! This is one of those I should have been able to to get but didn’t. Word scrambles are usually easy ones for me.

I know there is a kas rating for this - is that a 2 or 3?

[LadyBird]

Believe it or not (and, believe it, due to that map...) I am in the 2nd ward!

Well, howdy "neighbor"!

Maybe if/when things get back to normal, we can meet to chase rabbits down The Rabbit Hole... a 2nd ward watering hole

RabbitHoleAvatar.JPG

Hey (waving hand), I'll come in from the burbs!

[MikeMillerwsj]

Greetings and happy Ides. We are continuing to see a surge of entries--2123 this week, about 87% correct. I wonder how many, like your correspondent, figured out the answer but didn't catch the additional black-belt maneuver that the letters RANDOM (in order) preceded all the scattered letters of HOUSE.

Some other guesses from the world of publishing and beyond, including Harper Collins (14), Xerox (14), Oshkosh (10 + 2 Oshkosh B'Gosh), Hershey (5) and Anheuser-Busch (2) among others.

And congrats to this week's winner: Jennifer Palmer of Grass Valley, Calif.!

[DBMiller]

I too, missed the pre-order of RANDOM. I noticed all the book related clues for the themed answers and the title also pointed in the direction of a book seller. I immediately thought of Amazon, Random House, and Barnes and Noble. Tried to make Amazon fit, and when that didn't work, I thought about random house, and it all fell into place.

I also then noticed what I felt was a spoiler on the WSJ site. Someone posted the common HOUSE letters but didn't know what to do with them.

[LadyBird]

So, was I all alone in the ADOBE rabbit hole?

First, I noticed the initial H for one word of the theme answers. Then the O-U-E. And eventually the scrambled HOUSE'S. But then I thought Matt was doing a throwback to last springs puzzle. So I was trying to find connections between the remaining letters in the theme answers and other clues/ answers. There was CABO and CAB. But getting nowhere.

I was stuck in the mother of all traffic jams on Saturday (ALMOST wishing for early covid shutdown lack of traffic) when the answer hit me.

[auee89]

So, was I all alone in the ADOBE rabbit hole?

First, I noticed the initial H for one word of the theme answers. Then the O-U-E. And eventually the scrambled HOUSE'S. But then I thought Matt was doing a throwback to last springs puzzle. So I was trying to find connections between the remaining letters in the theme answers and other clues/ answers. There was CABO and CAB. But getting nowhere.

I was stuck in the mother of all traffic jams on Saturday (ALMOST wishing for early covid shutdown lack of traffic) when the answer hit me.

No, you were not alone! See my earlier post from today. I also saw ABODE in 11A & 16A. Reaching, I know.

[whimsy]

I liked the way that when you took away the letters H-O-U-S-E, and D from FONDUEHOST, you were left with FONT. Looked to see if the other 5 theme entries did something similar, but hey...... you can't have everything!
(Although FAMOUSHEXES did produce FAXES, FWIT!)

[BethA]

My wild guess before starting to fill the grid was XEROX, emphasizing “copy” in the title. Didn’t seem likely once I saw that there were 6 theme entries...

[DrTom]

Wow! I never got the answer, just couldn't see it. Kept trying to line up the rows of letters but that really was fruitless. I mean you could get all kinds of words. I did NOT see the 5 houses unfortunately and now that I see the solution it is of course as clever as heck. It does not make the crow taste any sweeter but it sure makes me marvel at the sheen of the feathers.

[CPJohnson]

Gaaaah! This is one of those I should have been able to to get but didn’t. Word scrambles are usually easy ones for me.

I know there is a kas rating for this - is that a 2 or 3?

I think it's a 4.